Early language does not develop in isolation. It emerges through movement, attention, social connection, and the environments infants experience every day.
In this episode of Beyond Words, host Garrett Oyama, MS, CCC-SLP, is joined by developmental researcher Irena Lovčević, PhD, to explore how communication unfolds through the dynamic coordination of motor activity, sensory experience, caregiver interaction, and context. Drawing from longitudinal and naturalistic research, Dr. Lovčević explains how infants’ vocalizations, gestures, and movements are tightly linked across moment-to-moment interactions, daily routines, and developmental time.
The conversation highlights key findings on motor–language coupling, including how movements and vocalizations co-occur and evolve together, as well as research on gesture development, such as infants’ use of the index finger for both communicative and exploratory purposes. Dr. Lovčević also discusses how caregiving practices like breastfeeding and infant-directed speech shape early communication, and how environmental factors such as variability in auditory input or hearing loss can influence language outcomes.
Using innovative tools like wearable audio and motion sensors and daylong home recordings, this episode offers a window into communication as an embodied, social, and ecological process. Clinicians will leave with a more integrated understanding of early language development and how action, attention, caregivers, and the environment intersect to inform assessment and early intervention.
In this episode of Beyond Words, host Garrett Oyama, MS, CCC-SLP, is joined by developmental researcher Irena Lovčević, PhD, to explore how communication unfolds through the dynamic coordination of motor activity, sensory experience, caregiver interaction, and context. Drawing from longitudinal and naturalistic research, Dr. Lovčević explains how infants’ vocalizations, gestures, and movements are tightly linked across moment-to-moment interactions, daily routines, and developmental time.
The conversation highlights key findings on motor–language coupling, including how movements and vocalizations co-occur and evolve together, as well as research on gesture development, such as infants’ use of the index finger for both communicative and exploratory purposes. Dr. Lovčević also discusses how caregiving practices like breastfeeding and infant-directed speech shape early communication, and how environmental factors such as variability in auditory input or hearing loss can influence language outcomes.
Using innovative tools like wearable audio and motion sensors and daylong home recordings, this episode offers a window into communication as an embodied, social, and ecological process. Clinicians will leave with a more integrated understanding of early language development and how action, attention, caregivers, and the environment intersect to inform assessment and early intervention.
